CHICAGO (IL)
Chicago Tribune
July 18, 2018
By Megan Crepeau
Arguably Chicago’s most notorious figure in the national Roman Catholic priest sex abuse scandal was committed indefinitely Wednesday to a state facility for sex offenders.
In refusing to release Daniel McCormack under strict monitoring, Cook County Judge Dennis Porter noted that the defrocked priest had never cooperated with treatment or even admitted to a problem.
“I can’t disregard the fact that he has never been of the belief that he has a problem,” Porter said. “The first (step) of treatment here is recognizing there’s a problem that has to be treated.”
McCormack, 49, sat impassively throughout the approximately 45-minute hearing and passed up an opportunity to speak on his own behalf, saying, “Not at this time, no” while giving a slight wave of his hand.
McCormack had pleaded guilty in 2007 to sexually abusing five boys and was sentenced to five years in prison. Shortly before he was eligible for parole in 2009, the state filed to designate him a sexually violent person so he could be held indefinitely at the secure state facility in Rushville. He has been held there since then while awaiting to learn his fate. Last September, Porter found him sexually violent, agreeing with prosecutors who argued the disgraced ex-priest was substantially likely to re-offend. The judge decided Wednesday to keep him in that same facility.
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